slcvr6

Anyone done an oil change/tranny fluid change to their C230 outside of the normal service windows? Trying to decipher how much hassle its going to be with the dealer going outside the normal service interval.

For reference, my 2002 C230 coupe is 6 months old and now has approximately 2400 miles on it. I like to freshen my fluids before winter on all of my cars.

I am hoping a tranny flush improves the horrific feel of the shifter...I thought it was supposed to get better with time, but it is only getting worse, in my opinion. You cannot shift from 1-2 when the car is anywhere short of being fully warmed for a good 15 minutes at least. Anything less and it grinds horribly. (This is with the 6spd)

Thanks.

Lynn

The dealer will have no problems with doing service outside of when the FSS says to do it. They will be quite happy to present you with the bill for doing it, however.

From your description, I don't think changing the tranny lube is going to help. It sounds like the problem is more serious.

levelr123g

there is a service bulletin out that adresses the tranny problem. they suggest you use atf in the tranny. it works wonderfully.

speedfrk

Welcome to the world of crappy MB manual transmissions. They have changed my fluid twice, put a new 2nd gear syncro in, and replaced the clutch slave cyl and throwout bearing. It still shifts like crap from 1st to 2nd. It is a very common complaint, that MB can't fix. Make sure they have done the shifter update, and checked the fluid level. Other than that, do like me and wait for the G35 coupes to come out

slcvr6

Will they do the tranny maintenance including fluid at their expense or mine?

Lynn

Since you are having so many problems and there is a service bulletin it should be a warranty item.

AndrewK

speedfrk - were you ever able to convince them to change out the linkage to a C7 part? I think I will talk to mine about changing fluid and doing the update, and if that doesnt work I'll just bite the bullett and pay for the C7 thing myself (and have it done at an independent shop).

totita

Does anybody has the number of the service bulletin and content?

speedfrk

Andrew, MB says my transmission is "normal" - whatever that means. I guess it means anything they want it to. So, no they won't do anything else unless it really tears up. If you get yours done, and it helps, definately let me know. BTW if we ever get a chance to meet up, maybe we can swap cars for short drive and see if we really are having the same problem.

Totita, they should be able to pull up the bulletin at the dealer if you call them. It is actually 2 different things-one is the fluid level, and the other is the linkage update.

AndrewK

I think my problem is mainly about about cold weather. Shift quality was not great during the summer but I have noticed a considerable worsening and an occasional grind into second in the minutes following a 'cold' (maybe 55 degrees) start. I think I'll call tomorrow and schedule and appointment for the fluid/tranny update.

speedfrk

Andrew, your problem sounds exactly like mine. It is worse when cold, and you get occcasional grinding going into second. My problem is that it is occasional enough that I can't get it to do it when the car is in the shop. But if you drive it over the course of a couple of days, you will get the grinding several times. The other problem is that they drive so few of these 6sp cars, they don't really even notice it when it happens. Heck it took me a couple of days when my car was new to notice it myself since I wasn't familiar with the car.

DCXdynodog

Your trans is scrap, show the dealer some of these threads and get your trans replaced.

https://mbworld.org/forums/showthrea...s&pagenumber=3

Getrag apparantly has some serious quality problems and MB doesn't want to officially admit it. Failure rate is way to high.

Who would've thunk MB couldn't get a manual trans right after all these years...